These items were purchased from L & T Respess Books.
Catalog items are related to slavery in Texas and Missouri. The slaves are only
mentioned by their first names with no history or genealogy provided.

Scope and Content Note

All 19 items are related to slavery or emancipation in the states of
Texas and Missouri. The descriptive write-up provided by Respess is used in the
listing of documents. Each document purchased has a title, date, and some have
an abbreviated transcription of the text. The Texas document recounts the
hiring, auctions, renting and transferring ownership of slaves. The Missouri
documents concern the purchase and transferring of ownership of slaves named
Nancy, George, Phebe, Washington, Lucinda, Madison, Benjamin, and Sarah. No
last names or additional information is provided except that Nancy is a Mulatto
Woman and George is of the age of seventeen or
thereabouts. Of particular note are two documents, a Texas free woman of
color filing a complaint regarding an illegal beating by a group of five men
one and the other document is from Missouri and details a sale of slaves by a
woman, a rarer document than those recording sales by men.

This collection is indexed under the following headings in the online
catalog of Cushing Memorial Library. Researchers wishing to find related
materials should search the catalog under these index terms.

Series I: Texas Documents-
1838-75, n.d. 1/1The sale of five
slaves as recorded in an autograph document transferring ownership of
Sundry Negroes slaves for life (to wit) Jim, July,
Harriet, Ann & George with their Increase to D. A. Perry for
$2400, signed by S. W. Perry of Washington County, Republic of Texas,
28 February, 1838. Half-sheet 4to. One-page,
approximately 50 words; docketed on verso/ Folded; traces of an attached sheet
on verso. 1/2Renting a slave for the
interest on a debt as recorded in an autograph document transferring
temporary ownership of a negro woman named Lucretia
about 18 years old copper complexion or yellow from Wyatt Hanks for a
period of 12 or 20 months, for the interest on $900, to John Campbell and his
wife of Dewitt County, Texas, and signed by John Campbell and Hanks,
24 July 1857. Folio. One page, approximately 200
words; docketed on verso. In a signed statement on the verso, a bit less than
two years later, Hanks relinquishes claims on the slave for $300. Folded; some
edgewear and browning. 1/3Transferring ownership of
a negro woman named Harriet, about thirty years
old, to J. S. Hanna for $1000, in a manuscript document, signed
by J. C. Rogers of Milam County, Texas,
6 October 1857. Folio. 1-page, docketed on verso.
Signed by A. M. Massengale and D. R. Cole as witnesses.1/4Accounting for the hiring
and rent of land and slaves, a one page accounting for the estate of
F.R. Garnett. Listing includes five slaves, identified by name, and one parcel
of land; for each slave entered the hirer and
the monthly fee paid to the estate for services or use; William Woodson of
Harrison County, Texas, was acting as administrator for the estate.
February 8, 1858.1/5Announcing the auction of
slaves in Caldwell, Texas, in an autograph document headed
notice, signed by Ellis Gregg as
administrator of the estate of John Gregg, deceased,
27 September 1858. Half-sheet 4to. One page,
approximately 65 words. I will sell to the highest
bidder at the Court House door in the town of Caldwell on the first Tuesday in
November next … the Negro woman named Ellen and children named Frances, Jinny,
and Austin. Pin holes at corners from original mounting; another hole in
the middle of document, taking parts of two letters.1/6Seeking $10,000 in damages
for an illegal beating, a plaintiff’s attorney’s manuscript complain,
signed by L. T. Harris and R. L. Elkins in February (?), 1960 on behalf of Rose
Ann, a free woman of color, and a resident of
Jackson County. Folio. 2 pages approximately 325 words. Malcolm Gandy,
Andrew Sea, William Wingfield, John White, and Adam McDaniel, all of Jackson
County, allegedly with force of arms &
without right … dragged the said pltf. Who is an old and defenseless woman,
about 60 years of age, a considerable distance, and then and there with force
of arms, …beat, bruised & wounded the said plaintiff with sticks,
clubs, and quirts. Rose Ann is later described as
a citizen of Texas at the date of the Declaration of
the Independence of Texas, the first such description we’ve seen for an
African-American. Folded (some wear and short separation at folds); some
browning and smudging. The complaint was prepared for the March term of the
Lavaca County Court, but bears no court markings or docketings (the complaint
is apparently a copy or was never filed).1/7Transferring ownership of
thirty seven negroes, from Jesse Tubbs
to William Davis, Robert Calvert and James S. Hanna for $36,750, in a
manuscript document, signed by Davis,
15 October 1860. 4to. 1-page, docketed on verso.
Signed by T. W. Cunningham as witness.1/8Transferring ownership of
a negro man by the name of Tom, from
H.J. Willson, to Davis, Calvert & Hanna,
for $1050 ($25 down payment made here), in a manuscript document, signed by
Willson,
25 October 1860, at Railway Camp. 4to. 1-page, docketed on verso.
Signed by T.W.Cunningham as witness. 1/9Printed slave hire, a
partly printed document completed in manuscript and signed by J. D. Billups,
John Billups, and G. W. Beauchamp. [Palestine, TX?],
January 1st, 1861. Handbill, 8 x 6.5 inches.
[blank] By the Twenty-fifth day of December next,
we, or either of us, promise to pay to W. W. Quarles, as guardian of M.
Quarles, [blank] Dollars, for the hire of a Negro [blank] named [blank] said
Negro we are to furnish with three suits of good clothing, one of which to be
woolen; two pairs of shoes, one [blank] and one good blanket. And we are to pay
the Taxes, and are to employ a Physician, when necessary, and pay the
Physician’s bill: --and we are to pay five Dollars for every article of
clothing we fail to furnish according to the above agreement. Ten per cent for
maturity/ January 1st 1861. The blank spaces are here completed
appropriately in manuscript. While autograph slave hires are among the most
common slavery related documents, this is the first printed form for one that
we have encountered. 1/10Promising to pay $25 per
month for three Negro Boys to work, to
Geo. R. Tubb, in a manuscript document, signed Davis, Calvert, & Hanna, Leon County,
21 October 1860, additionally agreeing to
clothe and feed said boys. Half-sheet 4to.
1-page, docketed on the verso. Over the hire is written
Cancelled & the Negroes taken home &
payment made in full to G.R. Tubb this day February 7th
1861.1/11Promising to
furnish [sic] Samuel King a negro man four months at
20 dollars per month, in a manuscript document, signed by James
S. Hanna, in Sterling, [TX?],
8 March 1862. Half-sheet 4to. 1-page. Hanna
further notes the $80, being the balance due him for
buck work done in the year 1861.1/12Transferring ownership of
a certain negroe girl named Banbry, about seventeen
years of age, in a manuscript document, signed by Joseph Mason of
Harrison County, Texas,
2 January 1854. Folio. 1-page, docketed on the
verso. Signed by Pendleton Murrah as a witness.
Folded as for filing, but very good. Benjamin Young and Alfred Johnson
purchased the slave for $1041. Murrah (
1826 – 1865) was elected governor of Texas in 1863
and served to the end of the war when he fled to Mexico, dying there of
tuberculosis in
August, 1865.1/13Posting bond for an accused
murderer of Jack Hunter a negro man, formerly
belonging to Mrs. A.M.J. Hunter on the Seventh of April A.D.
1864, in a manuscript document, signed by Joseph W. Slater, as
Justice of the Peace, Thomas W. Hull, the accused , and 16 of his supporters,
all of Harrison County, Texas,
18 September, 1865. Folio. 1-page; docketed on the
verso. Folded, but very good.1/14Paying a J.S. Hanna a $25
bounty as a reward for recovery of a Freedman Rance
Ross – charged with horse stealing, in an autograph document ,
signed by M.F. Harman, 9
December 1875, on a John Orr & Co. billhead, dated Calvert,
Texas. 8 vo. 1-page.1/15Transferring ownership of
a negro boy named Stephen, said boy … about twenty
years of age … and slave for life from W.W. Watts to J.S. Hanna
for $4000, in a manuscript document, signed by Watts,
7 December 1863 (i.E., after the Emancipation
Proclamation), at Robinson, Texas. Half-sheet 4to. 1-page. Signed by W. Rowland
as witness. n.d.Series I: Missouri Documents-1827-18611/16Emancipating Sam,
a certain Black man slave of ours; a 2
page manuscript document signed by Abraham Barnes and Jacob Wyman of Cooper
County, Missouri. We do hereby…release and
exonerated the said black man slave from all and every obligation of servitude
to us… and we do hereby also freely and voluntarily restore the said black man
slave to freedom.December 14, 1827.1/17Transferring ownership of
Nancy, a certain Mulatto Woman, a slave for
life; a one page manuscript document signed by John Gans Bryan of
Washington County, Missouri. John Parkinson, also of Washington County,
purchased the slave for $315. I do covenant…that the
girl Nancy is sound and about thirty years of age.January 20, 1830.1/18Transferring ownership of the
slave George of the age of seventeen or
thereabouts; a one page manuscript document, signed by Elizabeth
Daugherty of Cape Girardeau, Missouri. P.M. Dickinson, also of Cape Girardeau,
purchased the slave for $710. 1/19Transferring ownership of the
slaves Phebe, Washington, Lucinda, Madison, Benjamin, and Sarah; a one
page manuscript document signed by William L. Castleman of Lexington, Missouri.
Isaac Hockaday, on whose land the Battle of Lexington was fought in September
1861, purchased one fifth interest in the
slaves for $800. Phebe was 32 at the time of the sale, the other slaves ranged
in age from one year to 18.